MASTER OF MATERIALS – ANTENNA EDITION

55 billion IoT devices by 2025.

Source: Business Insider 2018

100% Samsung devices will be connected and intelligent by end of 2020.

Source: Samsung.

The near future trend is to have more smarter homes, smarter cities and smarter healthcare, and they all share common nominator in antenna friendly materials. From Omuus perspective we see companies that transform their offering into connected and intelligent business, but have a small hiccup when it comes to accessing RF friendly materials that also provide premium visual quality.

It is a challenge to design around an antenna and sensors, we have 20 years of knowhow of the topic. Today we talk with our Master of Materials Anne Taitto, Material Technology Engineer M.Sc.Tech and our CMF expert Annina Verkkomäki about antenna friendly materials. The inspiration of this article is our new service, if you would like to hear more about the service, please contact anne.taitto@omuus.com.

COMMON CHALLENGES

We are frequently asked across industries if we have RF transparent premium materials?

Anne: Premium RF transparent materials have been on our watch list for years. We constantly scout material trends and interesting suppliers. It’s both the premium appearance, and the story of the material, but the suppliers need to show also competence both in capability and capacity. Antenna’s and sensors defines the industrial design, the user experience of how you hold the product not to interfere to the performance, and most importantly the material choices and manufacturing process.

Annina: The consumers scrutinize brands and the design, and high quality material is one of the key element in purchase decision. Whether we are talking about wearables or connected home devices, for healthcare or for consumer electronics – the product need to be stylish. Otherwise people won’t want it. Public and working spaces are expected to be homelike environments and technology needs to be more adaptable and responsive to these needs. This is why in Omuus we saw huge need to combine this consumer trend and the material solutions into one service.

We are also frequently asked, if our services are expensive?

Anne: Price is always determined by the amount of work, and we are efficient in our work. Best scenario is that me and my team could be part of the process right from the beginning. Ideally, we start with the materials and supplier mapping to avoid unexpected production cost later.

In general, I can say that material led work always saves money and reduces risks. The time that we use for material work reduces overall product development cost.

Last but not least, the most common question: which materials are suitable for design with antennas?

Anne: Of course that always is highly depending on your product – what materials are the best fit for the user experience or the use case. Or the brand statement your brand is going for. For the RF transparency easy answer is plastic. That can always be challenged for the need for high quality premium products. The best material solutions are created with good material driven design and multidisciplinary work that our service provides.

Anne: The service is suitable for companies venturing into connected devices area. Not to forget companies who would like to refresh their material selection. Having right materials, will shorten your product development timeframe and increase the consumer appeal of your product.

If we managed to wake your interest, please ask for the full-service info and offer from anne.taitto@omuus.com.